Land cover/use

Land cover/use is - according to the USDA terminology - "a term that includes categories of land cover and categories of land use. Land cover is the vegetation or other kind of material that covers the land surface. Land use is the purpose of human activity on the land; it is usually, but not always, related to land cover. The National Resources Inventory (NRI) uses the term land cover/use to identify categories that account for all the surface area of the United States. "[1]